April 18th

After falling behind early, UCLA commit Shabazz Muhammad was able to bring the West team back and then hold on after a late charge by the East for the 99-95 win. The West built an 18 point second half lead. Muhammad shared MVP honors with the East's top scorer Rodney Purvis (22 pts). Each of the participants received roughly 20 minutes of action to showcase their skills.

Front and center for the first three days of this year’s Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, I watched the event’s entire 64-man roster play in two games. By the time I weaved onto I-95 South headed back to Raleigh my brain had locked in on the five guys at the event most likely to make an NBA roster for next year. You may not find some of these names on the all tournament team, but they showed me enough to give them the nod.